nenia

See also: nénia, nênia, and neniä

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin nēnia.

Noun

nenia (plural nenias)

1. (Ancient Rome) A funeral song; an elegy.
   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Honest Objects of Love”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

     Nam vinci in amore turpissimum putant, not only living, but when their friends are dead, with tombs and monuments, nenias, epitaphs elegies, inscriptions, pyramids, obelisks, statues, images, pictures, histories, poems, annals, feasts, anniversaries, many ages after (as Plato's scholars did) they will parentare still, omit no good office that may tend to the preservation of their names, honours, and eternal memory.

   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Avignon”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume II (The Constitution), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book V (Parliament First):

     The corpse of L’Escuyer, stretched on a bier, the ghastly head girt with laurel, is borne through the streets; with many-voiced unmelodious Nenia; funeral-wail still deeper than it is loud!

   • 1901, M. P. Shiel, The Purple Cloud‎^[1]:

     And as I nodded, with forehead propped on my left hand, and the packet of pemmican cakes in my right, there was in my head, somehow, an old street-song of my childhood: and I groaned it sleepily, like coronachs and drear funereal nenias, dirging; and the packet beat time in my right hand, falling and raising, falling heavily and rising, in time.

Translations

Translations

• French: nénie (fr) f
• German: Nänie (de) f
• Italian: nenia (it) f
• Portuguese: nénia f
• Spanish: nenia f

References

• “nenia”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• -anine, Annie, inane

Esperanto

Etymology

From neni- (negative correlative prefix) +‎ -a (correlative suffix of kind).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [neˈnia]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ia
• Hyphenation: ne‧ni‧a

Determiner

nenia (accusative singular nenian, plural neniaj, accusative plural neniajn)

1. no kind of

See also

Esperanto correlatives

		Interrogative	Demonstrative	Indefinite	Universal	Negative
		ki-	ti-	i-	ĉi-	neni-
Kind of, sort of	-a	kia	tia	ia	ĉia	nenia
Reason	-al	kial	tial	ial	ĉial	nenial
Time	-am	kiam	tiam	iam	ĉiam	neniam
Place	-e	kie	tie	ie	ĉie	nenie
Motion	-en	kien	tien	ien	ĉien	nenien
Manner	-el	kiel	tiel	iel	ĉiel	neniel
Possessive	-es	kies	ties	ies	ĉies	nenies
Demonstrative pronoun	-o	kio	tio	io	ĉio	nenio
Amount	-om	kiom	tiom	iom	ĉiom	neniom
Demonstrative determiner	-u	kiu	tiu	iu	ĉiu	neniu

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin nēnia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɛ.nja/

Noun

nenia f (plural nenie)

1. dirge
2. wail

Further reading

• nenia in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• Ienna, inane

Latin

Alternative forms

• naenia

Etymology

Perhaps from Ancient Greek νηνία (nēnía).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈneː.ni.a/, [ˈneːniä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈne.ni.a/, [ˈnɛːniä]

Noun

nēnia f (genitive nēniae); first declension

1. a funeral song, dirge
2. a spell, incantation, enchantment

   Synonyms: carmen, cantiō, cantus, incantāmentum

3. a song of little consequence, ditty, tune, lullaby

   Synonyms: lallus, lallum

4. (in the plural) talk of little consequence, trifles, nonsense

   Synonyms: nūgae, nihil

   • 1st c. AD, Phaedrus, Poeta :

     POĒTA / Ioculāre tibi vidētur et sānē levī, / Dum nihil habēmus maius, calamō lūdimus, / Sed dīligenter intuēre hās nēniās / Quantam sub titulīs ūtilitātem reperiēs!

     Poet. / It may seem to you that it's just jests and trifles when I don't have anything better to do and play with the pen: but look at these trifles diligently; you will find so much usefulness under this pretext!

5. (Late Latin, Medieval Latin) a complaint, criticism

   Synonyms: querēla, cēnsūra

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nēnia	nēniae
Genitive	nēniae	nēniārum
Dative	nēniae	nēniīs
Accusative	nēniam	nēniās
Ablative	nēniā	nēniīs
Vocative	nēnia	nēniae

Descendants

• → English: nenia
• → French: nénie
• → German: Nänie
• → Italian: nenia
• → Portuguese: nénia, nênia (Brazil)
• → Romanian: nenie
• → Spanish: nenia

References

• “nenia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “nenia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• nenia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “nenia”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “nenia”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin